NAIPC Webinar: Building a Better Aging in Place Community
Learn how to build a better Aging in Place community with leaders from current and developing NAIPC chapters. Tools for running meetings, building membership, and maintaining a strong community will be discussed.
Title: Building a Better Aging in Place Community
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time: 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM EDT
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. More information on speakers and topics will follow.
Meet the Member:
Byron Andrews, Disability Design
Byron Andrews didn’t decide to enter the universal design business - he was forced into it. On July 4, 1980, a tragic incident changed the Andrews family forever when an accident left Byron's brother a quadriplegic. The brothers had to begin thinking about disability and accessibility earlier in their lives than they had expected and long before much of America had awakened to the potential of a universally accessible homebuilding industry. “There were no tools, no products in the 80’s,” Byron said. So he and his brother started Disability Design, a residential contracting company in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“We made everything. We saw that this was one of the fastest growing markets and that there was more than enough business for a full-time company,” Byron said. Byron’s company has grown from small in-home repairs to home remodeling and full-scale new construction. “These houses are constructed for a lifetime of use,” Byron said. For years, Disability Design had been offering innovative design options that have only recently become standard: 36-inch wide doors, kitchen sinks that allow for wheelchair access, cabinetry with removable doors, roll-in showers and automatic door systems.
Byron is currently a licensed residential contractor and Certified Aging in Place Specialist. Now, as he looks to expand his business even more, he’s turning to NAIPC to help him build a community network of Aging in Place professionals. The Multiple Sclerosis Society, the ALS Association, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association have all been a good source for leads and business opportunities for Byron, but potential clients have had trouble finding ways to finance these changes in their home. The Aging in Place Council has provided valuable resources for Byron. “Now, I’m helping to arrange a reverse mortgage!” he says.
Chapter Chat: Orange County, CA
Angella Conrard turned to NAIPC because she wanted to be as educated as possible about the people she was serving in her reverse mortgage business. “A reverse mortgage is a lifestyle-changing financial tool,” she said, “Other threads come into play. Other needs and alternatives need to be looked at.” Building and running one of the nation's most successful Aging in Place communities has allowed Angella to educate not only herself on these needs and alternatives, but the entire Orange County, California senior professional community as well.
In 2005, Angella perceived that building an NAIPC chapter was a way to expand educational opportunities and business in Orange County. She turned to local vendors who had integrity and passion. The core group that helped her build the chapter were people who were not just salespeople, but people of varying fields who could contribute to the conversation. The chapter has grown tremendously from that core group and today comprises 50 Aging in Place professionals and supports countless other community members and consumers.
Along with the traditional ways of engaging her community – posting on public bulletins, inviting other professionals to join in – Angella has used some innovative and creative methods to build her local chapter. “We have these business cards with the NAIPC logo, the time and place of our meetings, and the purpose of NAIPC," she said. "We pass them around and ask people to pass them along to other professionals to invite them to come be a part of an elite group of professionals.”
The Orange Country chapter meets on the first Wednesday of each month, alternating among 7:15 AM meetings, which include a breakfast mixer, lunch-ins, or 4:30 afternoon gatherings. The goal, Conrard says, is to make them non-traditional, fun, and educational. But what has made chapter meetings successful is the emphasis on purpose. The kick off the session, a volunteer will read the chapter purpose statement, followed by a reading of the code of conduct, and then a reading from a book of inspiring, thought provoking quotes by renown leadership thinker Greg Giesen.
The strength of Angella’s chapter is the organization and focus that she and her fellow chapter leaders put into delivering stimulating and meaningful meetings month after month.
Innovations: Estaton National Demonstration HomeThe
Eskaton National Demonstration Home is so packed with unique and creative innovations that it defies categorization as a typical senior living concept. Demonstration homes often pop-up all over the country touting either a new level of environmental awareness or luxurious living, but the clever innovations in this Roseville, California home for senior living transcends expectations.
Eskaton has a 40-year history in providing housing, health systems, and other social services for over 14,000 seniors around Northern California. Their communities of Senior Residences include family focused apartment complexes and creatively designed homes for seniors at all stages of their life. With the new demonstration home, Eskaton has built a model that is environmentally friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and most importantly, dynamically innovative in its approach to senior living.
“We offer a comprehensive approach toward supporting independent living. This is an integrated design approach taking best practices that have been researched and applying then to seniors. It incorporates universal design components in an entirely different paradigm and mindset about design and livability,” said Sheri Peifer, Vice President of Research and Strategic Planning. As a part of their commitment to exploring innovations that support the health and wellness of older adults, Eskaton has collaborated with a variety of technology providers: wellness monitoring through the 'GrandCare' system that tracks vital statistics in residents' health and alerts family members of any changes; cognitive fitness computer games pre-installed on the home computer; an easy-to-use health system guide to assist a senior with everyday medical advice; and improved indoor air quality.
Other features abound to increase not only health, but quality of life for residents. These include smart lighting technologies, designed in collaboration with
California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) that are energy efficient and attractive, and a "virtual village" that uses a touch screen interface on social media technologies to help connect residents to neighbors, important services, local restaurants and meal services, and family and friends.
“We have a vision about how to serve seniors – and it requires partnership with builders,” added President & CEO Todd Murch. "The problem is that most homes are not designed to accommodate most people throughout a lifetime. All of these factors converge and lead to this question: Why can’t we build a house that is designed with the future in mind, a home that does not look or feel institutional, but supports independence with beautiful and fluid design?"
An added innovation is the emphasis on green and energy-efficient design, which ultimately lightens the burden an independent home can have on the planet as well as on a senior's finances. Spray-based insulation that increases heating efficiency, tank-less water heaters that do not waste energy heating unused water for most hours of the day, and solar panels all offset the usual expenses of a traditional home's energy use. The creative use of these technologies allows the home to be at least 35% more energy efficient than homes that meet California's energy needs and has earned the Eskaton National Demonstration Home a certification by the Green Built Homes of America.
Each piece of the home enhances the Universal Design integrated throughout the home. If an individual cannot maneuver through his or her kitchen and bathroom, then they cannot safely remain in their own home. As a result, the structure and design of the home is the first and most important step to aging-in-place. From cook tops and kitchen features designed with a tolerance for error, to reinforced walls, and zero-threshold entrances combined with step-less floor plan -- the home is designed for easy living for a whole lifetime of use. The key structural elements of this home were designed to integrate into any floor plan any blueprint, any where in the country. This home is revolutionizing the way homes are built, moving away from the 1940s and 1950s floor plans designed for a 6-foot, 29 year-old male to a beautiful environment for the 70 million baby boomers, 40 million of whom will be 65+ next year.
As the baby boomer population ascends into retirement age, the emphasis on creative design and innovative use of technologies for independent living will become increasingly important. The National Demonstration Home by Eskaton is leading the way in this field and for our senior population. For more information, please visit eskaton.org.
2009 Annual Meeting & Expo
National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association
November 18-20
San Diego, CA
Join members of the reverse mortgage industry for a summit of ideas and issues facing not only this financial product for seniors, but also of interest to the Aging in Place community including:
-Marketing to Seniors on the Internet
-How Will the Burgeoning Boomer Pool Change Our Country
-Spotting Elder Financial Abuse—And What You Should Do About It
-Serving the Senior Hispanic Population
-The Phone as Your Office: How the Next Generation Will Alter the Way You Conduct Business
-As well as many more topics on legislative, technical, ethics, and financial issues relating to America's growing senior population.
Join us at the beautiful Manchester Grand Hyatt in on the bay in downtown San Diego for this tremendous event.
